Citation

Sakelliadis EI, Katsos KD, Zouzia EI, Moraitis K, Spiliopoulou CA. J. Forensic Sci. 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Attiki, Greece.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/1556-4029.14241

PMID

31710693

Abstract

We present two cases of elevator-related deaths that occurred in two different elevators, and deaths were caused by a similar, but unusual, mechanism. An elevator is a platform or compartment housed in a shaft for raising and lowering people or things to different levels. Elevator-related deaths and injuries are rarely reported in the literature. In most of these cases, cause of death was attributed to falls. It seems that most of the elevator accidents may be attributed to factors related to device maintenance inadequacies or even to device malfunctioning. In our cases, both elevator cars were not equipped with full-length inner doors, thus allowing both accidents to occur. Since 2014, the European Union adopted a relative directive, which imposes the need to equip all elevators with such full-length doors. The enforcement of the above-mentioned EU Directive is crucial, in order to prevent similar accidents in the future.

© 2019 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Language: en

Keywords

autopsy; elevator deaths; forensic medicine; forensic science; neck injuries